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82 ppeerrppuuststaakakaaann..uunns.s.aac.c.iidd ddiiggiilliibb..uunns.s.aac.c.iidd CHAPTER IV RESULTS AND DISCUSSION A. Results of the Research Having established the traditional Igbo setting, before delving into the results, we first make a recap of the objectives of this study based on the Igbo concept of justice as follows: to show how the Igbo concept of justice based on egbe bere ugo bere nke siri ibe ya e bela nku kwaa ya helped achieve peace among the Igbo. To establish how the Igbo concept of justice can achieve global peace and to show why the Igbo concept of justice is best suited for achieving global peace. Hence the results based on egbe bere ugo bere summed up in three features namely equality, equity and truth as answers to the above stated research objective questions. (Truth) Chart 4. 1 A sum-up chart of the features of Igbo concept of justice. Source: Modified research documentation material 2019 1. Justice as Equality: How Igbo concept of justice achieved peace for the Igbo nation a. Gender Equality, Gender Inequality, and Gender Complementarity ccoommmmiitt ttoo uusserer 82 83 ppeerrppuuststaakakaaann..uunns.s.aac.c.iidd ddiiggiilliibb..uunns.s.aac.c.iidd Contextually, equality is defined here as giving no preferential treatment to anyone based on racial, ethnic, religious, sexual or any other such consideration. Besides race, ethnicity and religion, gender is one big issue in matters of equality which brings chaos and denies people of peace in most cases. Igbo concept of justice looks at equality from the aspects of race, ethnicity, religion and then gender. Democracy and democratic ethos are also highlighted and faithfully followed unlike what obtains in Christian/Western concept. The Igbo proverb that comprehensively captures their sense of equality in justice is e kebe oke n’aka n’aka a mara ndị a hụrụ n’anya (when things are shared individually/per hand, the favoured one is known). This goes to show the people’s innate aversion to injustice and perception of all humans as equal. On gender equality, the patriarchal societal arrangement has been usually associated with Ndịgbo especially by the Euro-American literature from time immemorial. For reason of organisational structure and maintaining of family lineage, some things are handled by men. However, this does not mean a relegation of the womenfolk to the background for as Ndịgbo believe, all people, whether man or woman are intrinsically equal and should be treated equally not only before the law but also in other matters of life including rulership as in Igbo chiefdoms. The first informant Odo who also doubles as supporting informant, is a male, aged 50. Graduate and lecturer, he agrees strongly that there is a strong sense of equality in Igbo concept of justice than in its Christian/Western counterpart. From his experience as a lecturer in the higher institution with students from different ethnic nationalists, he argues that the Igbo are known to not only protect the interests of the womenfolk but do not mind sharing equal responsibilities and privilges with the latter even in class activities. This informant equally agrees that a leader’s powers are impotent if such powers are unjust and so cannot guarantee peace. He also strongly agrees that there was more sense of justice among the Igbo pre-Christian era. The interviewee who also agrees that the leaders were more just and less corrupt before the Christian/Western corruption of the Igbo concept of justice based on egbe bere ugo bere. While acknowledging the inadequacies of Igbo concept of justice especially on the grounds of such cultural practices like killing of twins which unjustly denied infants the opportunity to live, this interviewee advocated the adoption of Igbo concept of justice with a tint of the western/Christian version that avoids such heinous practices like the ccoommmmiitt ttoo uusserer 84 ppeerrppuuststaakakaaann..uunns.s.aac.c.iidd ddiiggiilliibb..uunns.s.aac.c.iidd killing of twins. This is also the stance of other informants namely, Asọgwa, Asọnye, Mgbeorie, Ọyịma and Ezeokorie. But centrally, gender equality is a given for Ndịgbo. According to the seventh informant, Nneka, Igbo culture recognises women as equal entities to men but [only] of a different specie. This view is very averse to the western notion and practice of gender equality. Nneka explained that, that is why female chiefs are equally celebrated and respected in Igboland. As shown in the chart above, just like the family watching football game, the equality feature of Igbo justice ensures that everyone is given equal opportunity to achieve their aims. This is unlike what obtains in the global/western/Christian concept which though defines equality in same notion but practices it in opposite direction. On March 28 this year, the US Women soccer team instituted legal proceedings against the country’s soccer (football) association seeking for equal pay with their men counterparts. While the women’s team are four-time winners of the women’s world cup having won it back to back this July, their men counterparts have not only never won the world cup but are one of the lowest ranked in the world. Yet, the latter receive 72 percent higher pay than the former. In short, had the men been the winners of the world cup they were to receive about one million dollars each but the actual winners of the France 2019 world cup, the women can only hope for two hundred and fifty thousand dollar match pay. There are many other agonising instances of gender inequality just as it abounds in most countries including Nigeria but suffice it to say that this is just a tip of the iceberg in the chasm of gender inequality perpetrated and promoted by the global Christian West to the detriment of the womenfolk. In Anioma– the Igbo area west of the River Niger – there is a firmly established female chieftaincy institution dating roughly to the end of the fifteenth century. As Nneoma, the eight informant observed, until 1990, female chiefs in Anioma called Omu were very old women knowledgeable in the traditions of their people, and charged with certain ritual and secular duties. This according to Uchendu (2006) is why the Igbo concept of justice trumps above the west. Anioma boasts of political systems fashioned after the monarchical system ccoommmmiitt ttoo uusserer borrowed from the ancient Benin and Igala kingdoms, the patrilineal kinship system of 85 ppeerrppuuststaakakaaann..uunns.s.aac.c.iidd ddiiggiilliibb..uunns.s.aac.c.iidd the Igbo heartland, and a combination of both. However, while male monarchs, male title-holders and male elders were in control of local politics, women, generally, had little obvious political function before and during the colonial period. For the informants, Mgbeafọ, Ezeọba, Anịkwenwa and Chukwudị, the Aniocha section of Anioma, however, hosts the ụmụ ezechima, some nine towns that trace their roots to Benin. Pre-colonial ụmụ ezechima had a female chieftaincy institution with female chiefs called Omu who supervised female affairs and represented women in local councils that were dominated by men. Each town comprised a host of major lineages and was entitled to one Omu. No town, therefore, had more than one female representative in the local governing council. This female presence in local administration observed in Aniocha in the pre-colonial and colonial periods did not exist elsewhere in Anịoma. Like in other Igbo communities, Anioma’s communal leadership in pre-independence was a male responsibility. But Aniocha female chiefs were largely responsible for female affairs while men ruled the entire community. The traditional gendered system of political power is believed to be based on the idea that some aspects of governing were the appropriate responsibility of women and others were the appropriate responsibility of men similar to what existed in Western Europe before the nineteenth century.” (See Uchendu, 2006). While Engels emphasises economic aspect as being pivotal in the unequal relationship between men and women, in Igbo traditional society, it is culture that explains the relationship be it equal, unequal, or complementary. In her theory, Lesser Blumberg (1984) claims that it is only the production of surplus resources and access to and control over these resources, that translates into power or valued success—for men and women alike. Blumberg’s point plays out in Igbo traditional culture. That culture produced a category of highly resourceful, successful, and economically empowered women who could take male titles and wielded a lot of influence in their families and communities. In buttressing Blumberg’s position, the fifth informant, Ọyịma affirms that what determine social status in Igboland as in all parts of Africa, are economic power and hardly gender. According to her, a rich woman, an educated woman or enlightened woman who is outspoken, hardworking, and fearless can hardly expect to be looked ccoommmmiitt ttoo uusserer
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